DUBLIN —Forty-five years is a long time, unless you are God, and the Rev. Sergei Koberg, he has spent 45 years in the service of God and the community.

Koberg, 71, began his ministry at Saint Philip Lutheran Church in Dublin on June 30, 1963. His first sermon, which took place a week later on July 7, was to a flock of 26 parishioners coming from what then was the largely undeveloped East Bay. He will retire Sunday, nearly 45 years to the day after he started.

“There was nothing there yet,” Koberg said, “We arrived with a new baby, needed a new refrigerator and had to drive all the way out to San Leandro to get it.”

Koberg has watched his family, his church and his town grow up during the past 45 years. Dublin was his first pastoral assignment after attending the seminary in St. Louis. During his tenure, Saint Philip has grown from a two-wing church to a community complex that includes an elementary school, a chapel, offices and a gymnasium.

Longtime parishioners John and Marilyn Harri have been attending Koberg’s services almost since the beginning.

“When we first went to the congregation, it was really small,” said Marilyn, “We all just sort of grew together.”

“The big (Dublin) slogan in those days was ‘City Close, Country Quiet.'” Koberg said, adding that he could almost see to Danville from his office window when he first started.

According to Koberg, in the early years, houses in the valley were being offered for too-good-to-be true deals of $13,900, with a down payment of only a dollar. He recalls many families came and went, unable to follow up on the payments after paying that first dollar.

He found it interesting that he both came into town and is leaving it on the heels of a foreclosure crisis.

Koberg came to Dublin around the tail end of a religious revival in the United States. Billy Graham and other evangelical Protestants enjoyed widespread popularity through much of the 1950s. Koberg said he has seen religious life in the valley have its ups and downs since.

In 1972, divisions within the Lutheran Church regarding how strictly to interpret the Bible created tension.

“During those days, we worked very hard to keep the peace,” Koberg said. “We’re still Christians, and we can still treat each other with love and respect.”

Koberg and Saint Philip Lutheran Church are involved in several community service organizations. Koberg performs a communion service twice monthly at Villa San Ramon, a senior living center in San Ramon.

Saint Philip also has been a home for a local Alcoholics Anonymous chapter since Koberg began preaching in 1963. The chapter expressed its gratitude to Koberg at a recent meeting.

“They fed me,” Koberg said, laughing.

Koberg said he is looking forward to some of the usual perks of retirement, including improving his golf and tennis games. But he does not plan to spend all of his time on sports.

“I think I have two or four books in mind I’d like to write,” he said.

Koberg is an enthusiast of archaeology and religious history. He took a six-month sabbatical in 1986 to visit famous religious sites in Europe and the Middle East, participating in an archaeological dig in Israel. The trip “brought some vitality,” he said.

However, Koberg said he is not looking forward to saying good-bye. After he retires, he is not supposed to attend Sunday services at the church for about a year, in order to give the new pastor a chance to establish himself.

“There’s going to be enough ghosts of me around here for the new guy,” Koberg said, “I will miss them and that interaction with people. And how they let a pastor into their lives.”

“He’s just such an integral part of everything,” said Marilyn Harri. “When you go to church, he’s just there, he’s always available.”

Forty-five years have given Koberg a chance to grow as a scholar and a preacher, although John Harri said Koberg is not perfect.

“He excels at a lot of things,” John said, “But not singing. To the extent we asked him to turn his mic off when he’s singing.”

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